1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of refrigerators and, more particularly, to the incorporation of a specialty zone in a refrigerator dedicated for storing and making accessible food products for kids.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In a refrigerator, it is highly desirable to enhance the ability to store products within a limited space. This space includes the inner surfaces of both the fresh food and freezer doors of the refrigerator, with these surfaces typically being defined;by respective door liners. To this end, it is common to provide shelves, bins and/or compartments on these inner surfaces. In recent years, some emphasis has been placed on increasing the ability to store a wide range of products, particularly on the door of the fresh food compartment, in order to free up space in the main compartment areas for additional products. For example, in the recent past, provisions have been made to store rather large beverage containers, including gallon milk cartons and the like, on the fresh food compartment door.
There are certainly many benefits which can be realized by making healthy snacks and other food products readily available to children. Of course, many of the healthiest snacks and other food products geared toward children must be refrigerated. Unfortunately, these refrigerated products are typically not made readily available to children. That is, although a parent would generally prefer a child to eat more nutritional food items, the food items are not often stored in a manner which would enable a child to get a particular food item without assistance. For instance, the food item in question might be on an upper shelf or hidden behind other food items within a refrigerator, thereby not being readily available to a child. For this reason, it is often found that a child will simply elect to eat a food item which is more readily available and, most likely, less nutritional.
It is also often the case that parents would prefer their kid(s) to eat healthy foods which, unfortunately, may not be particularly appealing to the child. Therefore, it is often necessary for a parent to actually entice a child to eat certain types of foods over others. In addition to making the preferential food readily available, the food must be appealing. To this end, it would be desirable to provide a specialty storage area or zone in a refrigerator where food items purchased for a child can be stored in a location which is readily accessible. In addition, it would be ideal to configure the storage zone in a manner which not only entices a child to the food stored there, but also specifically directs a child""s attention to the proper zone. In this way, a parent can make desirable food products for a child readily accessible and the child will know exactly where to look for an approved snack or the like.
The present invention is directed to a kid""s zone compartment assembly for a refrigerator which defines a special place for the storage of food items dedicated for access by a child. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the overall specialty compartment assembly includes a compartment frame, a top tray, a cover for the top tray, a lower tray, and two tall package retainers. The top tray cover is pivotally hinged to the top tray. The cover is molded and configured in the likeness of a character, particularly an animal caricature. The various compartment components are carried by the compartment frame which, in turn, is supported by a fresh food compartment door liner of the refrigerator.
In accordance with the most preferred embodiment of the invention, the compartment frame mounts to a lower portion of the door liner via molded lugs on the compartment, wherein the overall kid""s zone compartment assembly is removable from the door liner. More specifically, the lower tray of the kid""s zone compartment assembly hooks and snaps into place in a lower portion of the frame. The tall package retainers, which are molded and preferably colored to depict a character""s feet, can be slid over a front flange of the lower tray.
With this construction and mounting, the entire kid""s zone compartment assembly of the invention is made readily available to a child. In addition, by presenting the compartment in the form of an animated or other character, a child will be enticed to access the compartment and the food stored therein. In this manner, a parent can maintain pre-selected, nutritional food products in a specialty compartment dedicated for and accessible by a child. Furthermore, the specialty compartment can be readily removed from the refrigerator door liner for cleaning or interchanging the overall compartment storage arrangement with alternative storage shelves, bins or the like, particularly when all the children in a particular household mature.
Additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment when taken in conjunction with the drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts in the several views.